Israel has carried out unprecedented strikes on Qatar targeting Hamas’ senior leadership in a move that threatens to further destabilise the Middle East.

Huge billows of smoke could be seen rising above the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday while videos showed people running for cover during Israeli airstrikes.

The IDF said that it and the Israel Security Agency, Shin Bet, had ‘conducted a precise strike targeting the senior leadership’ of Hamas, while Doha condemned the ‘cowardly’ attack, described as a ‘flagrant violation to all international law’.

The Israeli military insisted that ‘measures were taken in order to mitigate harm to civilians’, and vowed to ‘continue to operate … to defeat the Hamas terrorist organisation’.

A senior Israeli official told Israeli media the attack was aimed at top Hamas leaders including Khalil al-Hayya, its Gaza chief. Qatar said that the strikes had targeted the residential homes of Hamas officials.

A Hamas source said that the Israeli strikes targeted officials during a meeting to discuss Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposals. Negotiators were reportedly hit, and explosions rocked a Hamas compound, but a source said all attending survived.

Contradictory reports quickly began to emerge as foreign channels reported that Khalil al-Hayya, the leader of Hamas, and Khaled Mashal, the head of the external politburo in Qatar, were killed in the attack.

Doha immediately condemned the ‘cowardly’ strikes, described as a ‘flagrant violation to all international law’. Iran joined in denouncing the ‘gross violation of all international rules and regulations’.

An Israeli official said that the United States had been notified before the strikes, according to Reuters. The United States’ largest military base in the Middle East, Al Udeid, is in Qatar.